


I love this stupid team

by YourPalYourBuddy



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, dex is a captain and im emotional, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23553475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourPalYourBuddy/pseuds/YourPalYourBuddy
Summary: His team didn’t give up on him, and he grew. They softened his falls and he flew. They pulled him under and carried him back to the surface until he could tread water on his own.This glass plaque is a surreal thing to hold.Samwell Men’s Hockey Captain for the 2017-2018 Season,it says. And then underneath that:William Jacob Pointdexter.Dex runs his fingers over the words.______________________Just!!!!! I have a lot of feelings about Dex!!!!!!! So this is a lil background fluff for the "We chose a captain" section of Dibs
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Comments: 19
Kudos: 176





	I love this stupid team

________________________

There is something so very entrancing about this campus, this school. It’s the kind that will pull you in and under and buoy you back up, brighter and more sure of yourself than ever, if you let it. Not a new version of yourself, but a known one. Less cracked. More whole.

Dex never expected to be chosen when he visited. Chowder knew immediately like he fell into it; Nursey wasn’t far behind. Dex made up his mind after looking again and again and another time at how much they were offering him — how much a Samwell full ride would mean — and then pressed  _ enroll. _ From the first practice, Dex sank in kicking and screaming. From the first time he met his liney. From the first everything, almost. 

And yet— 

His team didn’t give up on him, and he grew. He stopped fighting against Nursey and started fighting  _ with _ Nursey. Bitty taught him how to properly roll dough. Lardo asked him to help look for their new manager. Jack showed him how to stand up after the world keeps trying to knock you down. He poured himself into the Haus and the Haus poured itself back. He has expanded far, far past his bounds and exceeded himself until he learned to fit back within his skin.

They softened his falls and he flew. They pulled him under and carried him back to the surface until he could tread water on his own. 

This glass plaque is a surreal thing to hold.  _ Samwell Men’s Hockey Captain for the 2017-2018 Season, _ it says. And then underneath that: _ William Jacob Pointdexter. _ Dex runs his fingers over the words.

“Look boys, he’s surprised,” a familiar voice says. 

There was a time when a sentence like this coming from Nursey would be pointed, angular past all comfort; there was a time when this would poke and spine its way through the air between them. Now it’s just — rounded. Soft like Dex’s favorite sweater, which is also Nursey’s sweater, which is also on Dex’s desk back in their room. 

“Can you blame me?” Dex says. He is a special kind of undone under Nursey’s gaze. 

“Chyeah, Dexy.” Nursey loops his arm around Chowder’s neck and Chowder says, “For real, Nursey’s been saying he’s voting for you since that first roadie against Clarkson.”

Dex smiles a little. “You voted for me? I voted for Whiskey.”

Nursey rolls his eyes and, as if they’ve transcended words, the three of them crash into each other. Chowder squeezes him tight around the middle. Nursey musses his hair. Dex tilts his head up, eyes closed, and lets himself get swept away. 

“I love this stupid team,” Dex says, and everything feels like a deep, deep exhale.

“See? You’re the most brainwashed of all of us, Dex,” Nursey says, “of course I voted for you.”

There is so much in his voice. Dex thinks if he unpeeled it, his voice would say  _ absolutely no chill. _ If he goes deeper, he thinks it’d say,  _ you always give it your everything on and off the ice. _ And then deeper and deeper until he runs into what he’s heard whispered in his ear in the middle of the night, or kissed against his neck during a kegster, or said simply — all-encompassingly — on the roof, shoulders leaning against shoulders, fingers tripping delicately over thighs while the sky slowly explodes into stars. He thinks it’d say  _ I love you. _ The look on Nursey’s face tells him he’s right.

Chowder elbows Dex gently as if to say  _ say what you really mean  _ before letting go and rejoining the rest of their team. Dex slowly, deliberately runs his fingers through Nursey’s hair. Nursey slowly, deliberately takes his hand and presses his lips to the inside of Dex’s wrist.

“Hey,” Dex whispers. “Nurse.”

Nursey’s lips tickle when he responds. “Dex.”

Dex says, “I’m in love with you,” and Nursey kisses him. It feels like falling onto the surest place he’s ever known. A place that can breathe and move and live without him but is so much happier when he’s nearby. Dex thinks about everything it took to get them to this point, and he kisses him back.

“I love you too,” Nursey whispers. He smiles almost shyly. 

Their friends call out  _ oh captain my captain _ and it is only partly a joke. Dex laces their fingers together. Nursey bumps their shoulders together like he wants them to be closer than they are. Anchored, buoyed, at once miles in the sky and rooted to the earth on his own two feet, Dex follows Nursey back into the party.

________________________

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for loving them :) pls scream with me about this beautiful, beautiful webcomic either in the comments or [come find me on tumblr <3](https://ivecarvedawoodenheart.tumblr.com/)


End file.
